Code of Silence: Fratmen’s tactic to hide misconduct
When the death of the UST law freshman Horacio ‘Atio’ Castillo III was reported last Sept. 17, the issue of fraternity hazing has been reignited in the country. The public eye is once again on the fraternities after the initiation rites that led to the death of the 22-year-old Political Science graduate. Castillo died of cardiac arrest due to the trauma he suffered from the Aegis Juris Fraternity—a supposedly “brotherhood” support for him.
“Shield of Justice”—the meaning of Aegis Juris—has become an ironic label for the fraternity. Even in its motto “Do no injustice, suffer no injustice,” the Aegis Juris has showed an absurd misrepresentation of what its members profess and of the ideals the fraternity supposedly stands for.
Early on Sept. 19, Aegis Juris released a statement saying it will cooperate in the investigation. However, their unwillingness to testify, bare the truth, and own up to the crime is a concrete signifier that they are not true to their words and to the law which they—probably—swore to protect and uphold when they entered law school. Their code of silence is in itself an injustice. This, coupled by the suspects’ knowledge about the law, can definitely put barricades just where truth lies behind that can only be revealed if the threshold is crossed.
Where now are the perpetrators and instigators? Instead of bringing justice, the people allegedly involved in Horacio’s death seem to be hiding under the “shield of injustice.” The fraternity’s code of silence has been lashed out at since the issue made its way to the media. The Aegis Juris fratmen kept invoking their right against self-incrimination, even in simple questions like their affiliation or involvement in the fraternity.
Past incidents are proofs that justice for hazing victims is hard to achieve not only because of the failure in law enforcement, but also because of this inside rule that seeks to cover up the fraternity’s wrongdoings and thwarts the process towards justice.
This code of silence, however, is not an exclusive practice of Aegis Juris. This is prevalent even in other fraternities and sororities which authorities deem as one contributing factor in the low conviction rate despite many cases of hazing. Even if the Republic Act 8049 or the 1995 Anti-Hazing Law has existed for 22 years, there has been only one conviction. It was in 2015 when the Supreme Court found the two Alpha Phi Omega fraternity members guilty of violating the law which led to the eventual death of UP Los Baños student Marlon Villanueva.
Horacio’s body was bloated, full of drops of candle wax, and has suffered hematoma after the hazing. Thomasians, and even people outside the Thomasian community, could not believe how the fraternity men who preach the value of brotherhood could violently subject him to physical suffering.
The sense of brotherhood in fraternities now becomes nothing but a paradoxical truth; the people who are supposed to be “brothers” to new members turned out to be the “tormentors” of these young men seeking camaraderie rather than physical and emotional distress. But nothing close to any of these happens during initiation rites, because instead of welcoming these neophytes, they tolerate violence and subject them to physical and emotional harm, with some cases leading to radical pain and suffering, or worse, death.
What kind of brotherhood is it that inflicts pain, tolerates criminal acts, and worse, kills? This is definitely not the Thomasian kind of brotherhood. These are not the values taught in the University or the values a true Thomasian has or upholds. These are not the morals the Catholic Church—the very essence of Thomasian education—encourages its children to emulate.
What adds to this ironic and tragic norm is that these perpetrators and instigators are soon-to-be lawyers or aspiring members of the Bar and some are even practitioners and agents of the law. As such, they are supposed to be well-informed about the law, especially on hazing and they, of all people, should ensure that no law is broken and that justice is accessible through them. Contrary to the values imbibed by the fraternity, these fratmen who devoted their time to studying the rule of law, were the ones who broke it at the expense of a life.
Not only does this incident show complete irony. This also signifies the quality of lawyers UST produces or the kind of lawyers the Philippines will have—or perhaps, already has—considering Aegis Juris boasts on the fact that the fraternity is a factory of lawyers.
In the advent of the initiation rites that led to the tragic death of Horacio, the fraternity did not only pull the name of the reputable Aegis Juris Fraternity down. It also dragged the reputation of not only the oldest law school, but also the country’s oldest university along with it. The roster of ideals that the university upholds have been put to question, with the arousal of the violent crime done by students of the university against their fellow Thomasian, or future “brother” in that regard.
With the alarming cases of deaths from abusive initiation rights, it is imperative and the right course of action to scrutinize the cases of hazing, look beyond the traditions and fraternity norms, and re-assess the process of initiation.
These violent welcome rites no longer exist as tests of loyalty and integral evidence to brotherhood, but rather, they function as brutal test of survival and physical strength as they subject new members to cruel affliction.
Different times call for different measures. Whatever must have worked in the ancient initiation rites, might not work or be suitable in the present time. The harmful and violent tradition and culture that are still being observed and implemented by these fraternities should be reassessed and changed, especially if they no longer serve the good of the organization.